Students slap down bullying in record style

By Theresa Clift

Updated
12:21 am CDT, Tuesday, May 22, 2012

MacArthur High School Senior Darik Dillard, set a new Guinness World Record of the most High Five's in an hour. The old record was 1362 and he was able to get 2215 High Fives as he ran down the halls of the school. Video by Bob Owen

Media: San Antonio Express-News

MacArthur High School students handily beat the Guinness world record for most “high-fives” in an hour Monday in an effort to raise awareness against bullying.

Senior Darik Dillard slapped the hands of 2,215 fellow students in about 20 minutes, beating the previous record of 1,363 slaps in one hour.

The school's peer-assisted leadership class, also known as P.A.L.S, planned the event.

“When people are bullied, they don't really go to the adults or administrators — it's just something that happens underneath their noses,” Dillard said. “We just wanted to make sure that we expose it ... and make people not afraid to stand up to it.”

Every student who participated wrote an anti-bullying oath before lining up around the school.

MacArthur High School Senior Darik Dillard (cq), attempts to set a new Guinness World Record of the most High Five's in an hour. The old record was 1362 and he was able to get 2215 High Fives as he ran down the halls of the school. Guinness will be verifying his attempt which will take up to 6 weeks.

MacArthur High School Senior Darik Dillard (cq), attempts to set a new Guinness World Record of the most High Five's in an hour. The old record was 1362 and he was able to get 2215 High Fives as he ran down

MacArthur High School Senior Darik Dillard (cq), attempts to set a new Guinness World Record of the most High Five's in an hour. The old record was 1362 and he was able to get 2215 High Fives as he ran down the halls of the school. Guinness will be verifying his attempt which will take up to 6 weeks.

MacArthur High School Senior Darik Dillard (cq), attempts to set a new Guinness World Record of the most High Five's in an hour. The old record was 1362 and he was able to get 2215 High Fives as he ran down

Dillard, an academic standout and star running back, signed a football scholarship to play at Rice University next year and is the brother of NFL wide receiver Jarett Dillard. He anchored the hand-slapping but said his classmates were the ones who made it happen.

The two P.A.L.S classes have about 40 students and all helped get the word out, planning the event for three weeks.

According to Guinness, the previous record was achieved in September 2010 at Hoffman Estates High School in Hoffman Estates, Ill., to attract volunteers for its recreation program.

Dillard said the students were to submit the documentation for the new record to Guinness on Monday. It will take Guinness up to six weeks to verify.

Chris Thompson, a P.A.L.S teacher, said he was not surprised they were able to do it — the school has about 2,500 students — but he was surprised by how quickly they warmed to the idea.

“There were probably 60 kids that just started following (Dillard) all the way through the school because they were just so taken aback by what was going on,” Thompson said.

Principal Peter Martinez said there is not a lot of bullying at MacArthur, but it is an issue for all schools and more awareness initiatives are planned that could be adopted across the North East Independent School District.

P.A.L.S. classes will attempt to break a new record every year for the same cause and called Monday's event the “First Annual Breaking Records, not Spirits.” Guinness will take about six to eight weeks to make the record official, Thompson said.

The district has the largest P.A.L.S program in the state, and it's “every teacher's dream to work with kids like this,” he said.